The groom wore his tux in a hospital room. The bride said “I do” to a computer screen.

That’s what happened when life threw an Orange County couple a curveball, sending the groom to the hospital days before his wedding and technology to the rescue.

Samuel Kim and Helen Oh, both 27, tied the knot with the help of Skype, a video-conferencing program on Saturday at a Fullerton church. Rather than walking down the aisle to her husband-to-be, Oh saw his face on a jumbo screen.

“Helen, my wife, I’m very, very sorry for not being able to walk you down the aisle or stand at the altar, but today is just one day. We’re going to live for a very long time,” Kim said in his vows over Skype. “I promise to be a perfect husband from now on to make up for this.”

And when it came time to kiss the bride, the wedding officiator, who was also Oh’s father and the church’s associate pastor, brushed over that part. If guests wanted to see what they looked like locking lips, they could check out engagement photos set up throughout the room.

Getting the idea

When Kim broke Oh the news that the wedding would have to be postponed, his fiancée had an idea. Why not get married over Skype?

“I completely expected to postpone our wedding, but my fiancée, she really insisted. She wanted the wedding,” Kim said from his room at UCI Medical Center in Orange. He didn’t want to share the reason why he was there, but explained he had to be in solitary confinement for a few weeks.

At first, he thought he was letting Oh down by not giving her the perfect day. The two consulted Oh’s father about the idea. Before Oh could mention Skype, her father suggested calling Kim and putting him on speakerphone during the wedding. Then Oh suggested video and her father didn’t know that was possible.

The church, Grace Ministries, has a large sanctuary room that fits up to 2,000 people. On special occasions, jumbo screens are used, so the logistics of a Skype wedding weren’t too difficult to handle. Kim, of Irvine, and Oh, of Anaheim, had about 500 guests at their wedding, many of whom flew internationally to attend.

The broadcast went off without a hitch, Kim said. Afterward, he got a flood of texts from friends congratulating him. He didn’t get to go to the reception, but Oh visited him in the hospital Saturday evening. The two plan to move into an apartment in La Habra together.

Not first Skype wedding

This isn’t the first time Skype has helped tie the knot. In April, a British couple got stuck in the Dubai airport after an Icelandic volcano erupted, clogging the skies with ash and delaying their flight to London for their wedding. Then in November, a gay couple tried to sidestep a Texas ban on same-sex marriages by using a District of Columbia officiator via video-conferencing. That marriage was later annulled by the D.C. Superior Court. Others have also used Skype to broadcast weddings to family and friends unable to attend.

“The bride and groom have both been really good, considering the circumstances They’re in as good spirits as they can be,” said Richard Kong, the best man.

The couple met about two years ago through Kim’s stepmother, who worked at an insurance agency with Oh. For a year, his stepmother prayed the two would be married. She then tried to set them up on a blind date, but Kim refused to go on a date planned by his stepmother. She told him the Bible said he had to respect his parents, so he gave in.

He met Oh, and it was love at first sight.

And on their wedding day, she was “gorgeous,” Kim said. The couple had taken engagement photos in their wedding-day outfits, so he had already seen her in her wedding gown in person.

Honeymoon plans

Oh had always dreamed of going to Paris and Prague, so as a surprise, Kim booked a honeymoon trip to Europe. They were supposed to leave Saturday night. Due to Kim’s illness, the honeymoon was postponed.

But it turned out OK. Kim recently checked the weather in Paris for this time of year.

“It’s cold! Maybe it’s a good thing we’re not going right now,” he said.

The couple plan to go on their honeymoon in a few months, to experience springtime in Paris.